BillyTKidd's Blog: Billy Blogg
I haven't really been home for the last 5 weeks except a weekend to do laundry. It seems much longer though. Two and a half wacky weeks in Japan followed by another two weeks in Basel, or Bale depending on which side of the country you are from. We complain about having to deal with Spanish as a second or primary language. Here in little old Switzerland they have four official languages.
There's French, Italian and this wacky little language known as Romanish (no, not Romanian). It's only spoken by a few thousand people out in the sticks of Graubünden; it's kind of a Latin based German. The main language of course is German, but don't let that fool you. There are so many dialects floating around that cause break room discussions over word meanings.

I was once ridiculed because we "English" speakers never use the correct name of cities or countries. I was sitting at a table enjoying a beer and discussing movies with a mix three Swiss and Germans. They didn't like that I referred to the movie "Troy" as Troy and not the German Troye. I Googled a bit and I'm not even sure how the Greeks pronounce it but it looks like Troy.
Anyway I looked at them, smiled and said do you mean like "Genf-Genev-Geneva" or "Bale-Basel" or perhaps "Biel-Bienne". I said, "You can’t even decide how to name your own cities! You live next door to France yet insist on calling it Frankriech." I conceded that English speakers are not perfect, but every language has its own names for cities and countries around the world.
Posted: 11/6/2008 4:15:18 AM Total Comments: 0
So, I've been in Japan on business the last couple of weeks. It's probably about my 10th trip to Japan. I'm normally here only about 1-2weeks at a time and only once or twice a year, so I never really bothered to learn much more than the simple pleasantries and a few basice questions and answers.
I was leaving the customer's site tonight and when I got in the cab the driver looked at me in anticipation of our destination.
There are two Okura hotels in the city. I'm in the Okura-Frontier. The other is the Okura-Epoichal.
I say "Okura-Frontier."
He repiles, "Epochal."
Me, "No, no. Frontier."
Him, :Hi! Epochal."
Me, "Ahh Tsukuba Station?"
Driver, "Hi! Tsukuba Station." Which is OK, we normally catch the cabs there in the morning.
10 minutes later we pull up in front of the the Okura......


Frontier!

If you'll excuse me, I need to go join my friends at the bar and watch people cook weird animal parts for dinner. Cow's 4th stomach (don't know about the others), veins, tongues, hearts and they tell me that the diaphram is very tender. I only have one more night, so I don't know if I'll be able to work up the nerve to try it.
Posted: 10/22/2008 7:40:58 AM Total Comments: 0
Two of the wost kept secrets were made official this weekend.
Doviziozo will replace Niky Hayden at HRC. HRS has been a divided team since Padrosa joined. That was obvious from early 2006 and has been illustrated time and again. From the race at Estoril where the little emporer almost ended Hayden's bid to be champion.

Toby Moody a Eurosport announcer wrote the following in his column:

Pedrosa's body language as he rose to his feet in the gravel trap was
disgraceful. Barely looking over to see if Nicky was injured, he just
flicked his hands in the direction of the incident as if brushing a
wasp away. Not an apology at all. It looked just so wrong that maybe
it was some malicious plan all along... I sincerely hope not.

To the latest instance of Dani demanding Bridgestone tires now or he would not finish the season.  Writes Dennis Noyes:

In an unprecedented display of unilateral brinksmanship, Alberto Puig, who, in addition to other duties in the employment of both Honda and Dorna, is Pedrosa’s manager, tried to organize a protest among Michelin riders, encouraging them to pull their machines from the race at the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic.

In 2005 the head of HRC, Suguru Kanazawa said:
"Dani Pedrosa is the only current rider that seems capable of beating Valentino Rossi."

Although it was denied by Honda (because it was the PC thin to do) the 2007 bike was designed for Padrosa. Honda claimed it was a compact bije designed for compact riders. 2006 champion Niky Hayden is 5ft 6in while Padrosa is 5ft 1in. Nicky's first reaction to sitting on the bike:
"I thought I was getting punked. I thought, is this a joke or something?"

Nicky really revealed hw bad things have become in the HRC camp when he commented that the only chage with Dani getting the Bridgestone tires was that now the dividing wall would be physical.
Honda bet the farm on Padrosa and stayed committed to that decision even at the expense of their reining world champion. I find it difficult to believe that a tem that openly states that it is the bike and not the rider (witness Rossi's departure) would allow a single manager/rider combination have such sway over their race organization.
Posted: 9/18/2008 8:59:02 AM Total Comments: 0
Anyone catch the Belgian GP this weekend?
What a crazy race! Everyone started on the softer dry tire even though about 30% of the track was very damp including the starting grid. Almost everyone spun their tires at the start except Truli who took off like a rocket. Although a few went wide everyone made it through the first set of corners with McLaren's Kovalinian falling about 10 positions to 13th.
 Hamilton had opened a gap, but spun going into the last set of corners allowing Raikkonen to overtake him on the straight. It stayed that way until the final three laps when just before the rain returned.  On the harder tire for the final stint of the race, the McLaren was much faster than the Ferrari allowing Hamilton to close the 4second gap Raikkonen had built. With three laps to go Hamilton then made a controversial move on Raikkonen in the last corner. He tried to overtake the Finn, but Kimmi is not a push-over like Massa and held his claim to the preferred line. Hamilton had to cut through the run-off and emerged in front of the Finn.  Although Raikkonen led across the finish line, it did not appear that Hamilton had lost anything, and slipstreamed back by Raikkonen.
Then the Rain Returned And Chaos Ensued!
Cars were going off left and right
Hamilton went off avoiding a Williams and Raikkonen led.
Raikkonen went off and Hamilton led.
Raikkonen waaaay off and somehow found huge grip in the run-off area and was right on Hamilton.
Raikkonen off again and into the barrier.
Hamilton had several new misses along the way but with Raikkonen out he could afford to be more cautious.
Massa was tip-toeing around and almost lost his position. Before starting the last lap Alonso and Heidfield slipped into the pits to get intermediates. Changing tires cost them about 25 seconds, but they returned to turn a lap almost 40seconds faster than the cars they were racing.
Bourdais had a great run that was over shadowed by the rain. After running in the top 5 all day he ended up 7th.
If you haven't read, Hamilton has been penalized 25 seconds for the pass on Raikkonen which moves him to 3rd.
What a crazy race!

Now the Brits have their 'knickers" in a wad over the unfair treatment of Hamilton.
I must admit, I try to keep an open mind, but like many tend to push back when someone tries to jam something down my throat. I can watch the F1 races a multitude of languages, but the only English broadcast avaiable  is ITV1 from England. I am so tired of hearing about and seeing Hamilton that I unfairly hope for his defeats. I recognize Hamilton as a talented driver, but the quality of the broadcast is so much better when he is out or a non-factor.
Posted: 9/8/2008 9:48:27 AM Total Comments: 0
So I wrote a multi paragraph blog entry detailing my thoughts on the recent JGR penalties. I'm a math geek, and my spelling/typing is terrible. For these reasons I almost always use a text editor with spell and gramer checking. I suppose its mostly because I am so embarrasased with ineptitude, but also because I don't want people who read my transcriptions to suffer. :)
Back to the topic - why R1 still Stinks. I could use harsher languiage and still not convey my frustration.
I tried two different PCs with each with IE6 and FireFox 1.8. In neither case was I able to copy paste my work into the blog editor.
I really liked the old community.
I left the site a few months ago. du to frustration with the SW 
I hung around and saw people were more or less satisfied with the current SW.
The place is almost dead, and as I said I liked the place, so I tried a comeback.
After this recent frustration, I'm leaving again.
Will I be banned? Don't care.
The place is crap.
It looks good on the surface, but the tools are stoneage. I'd have better luck sending snail-mail to the the readers.
I'm not a professional writer, but I do write software, and more importantly I know CRAP when I see it or in this case when I actually had to step in it. This site is 100% certified US Grade A CRAP!
I'm done ranting about this crappy little site.
R1 make a freakin' decision - fix it or close it!
I'm done.
Thans for reading.
Sorry for the typos and gramitical errors ;)

 
Posted: 8/22/2008 10:46:17 AM Total Comments: 0

OK, so the hoopla has died down since Indy, but the fundamental problem is still there. I don't understand NASCAR (I'm sure there are many of us who don't). They redesigned the car trying to remove the dependency on aero. The new car is heavier with a higher center of gravity. However the tires are fundamentally the same. Sure they play with the compound and probably the sidewall, but it is still the same old tire. What I don't understand is why didn't they take the time to redesign the wheel and tire combination when they were developing the COT? Its like trading in the family 2-door for a new SUV but telling the dealer that you want the tires and wheels form your old car. It just doesn't work.

Formula 1 figured it out. Next year the size of the wings will be greatly reduced and all of the little winglets and veins will be gone. In their attempt to increase overtaking they knew that the balance between mechanical grip and aero down force must be shifted. They have spent the last two years developing a new slick tire. It will be about the same size but the contact patch will be about 2/3 greater.

NASCAR spent years developing the COT, but forgot to start at ground level, and we can see the results. It kind of reminds me of a wine rack I built for a girlfriend a long time ago. Of  course I created my own plans, and somewhere along the way a small miscalaulation was made as to the spacing of the rails that held the bottles. I at least did a dry fit with an actual bottle. Ha! The *** thing was full inch too wide to even think about holding the bottle.  I had a choice buy bigger wine bottles or fix the rack. I fixed the rack.

Although the COT may have some design flaws, they don't need to stick with the same old tire and wheel.
Posted: 8/14/2008 11:05:50 AM Total Comments: 0

Report Inappropriate Content

Select the reason that best describes why you think this content is inappropriate, and then click Submit. We'll review the content to determine if action is required. Thanks for your input!
 
Submit
Cancel